Interior Design Schools

Directory of Interior Design Schools & Programs

Take aesthetics to the next level with a degree from a top-ranked interior design school.

An Eye for Aesthetics: What’s Life Like in Interior Design?

Are you creative, artistic and imaginative? How about disciplined and organized? If so, consider combining your aesthetic vision and talents with practical skills and knowledge to become an interior designer. A career in interior design includes planning, designing, and furnishing interiors with a balance of practical and aesthetic components to accomplish client goals. Interior designers work with a range of clientele, including residential, commercial, and industrial.

Additional skills for a successful interior design career include: the ability to plan a space and render that design visually as well as knowledge of materials, texture, color, lighting, and other factors, along with how they will contribute to the “look” and “feel” of the space.

Interior Design Careers: Putting Your Design to Work

Interior design graduates can pursue a multitude of subfields in the design industry, including: junior, intermediate and senior designers, project management, lighting designer as well as residential, commercial, or industrial designers.

Industries with the highest concentration of interior design graduates include: specialized design services, with over 38 percent of interior designers employed nationwide, architectural, engineering and related services, furniture stores, building material and supplies dealers as well as residential building construction.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national mean annual wage for interior designers was $51,990 in May, 2009. Additionally, top-paid designers received compensation in excess of $83,620 per year. Studies indicate that 3 out of 10 interior designers are self-employed.